Digitally produced content is ubiquitous in today's society. In many instances, printed newspapers and books have been replaced with digital content mediums such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones. In many ways, the transition to digital has improved the presentation of content. For example, users can easily access content from myriad sources from a single device via the internet. In addition, content that could not be presented in static print mediums, such as video content, can now be presented on personal devices. Users can also interact with the content in ways not possible with static print content, e.g., via touch screens and other input devices.
However, along with the benefits provided by digital content comes new challenges, as well. For example, the screens on which digital content is presented are of finite space, in some instances (e.g., mobile phones) much smaller than the space on a book or newspaper page. This often requires that the content be presented in a scrollable or other navigable format, such that a user has the freedom to determine what portion of the content in displayed on the screen. This freedom to scroll or navigate often results in users scrolling or navigating past certain content that the content producer deems particularly important and wants to continue displaying to user.
As one example, a news content publisher may publish an article that has an associated video with a correspondent providing commentary that the publisher considers particularly relevant. In many conventional systems, the video content will only be configured to play if the window containing the video content is adequately presented on the client device screen. Thus, once a user scrolls past the video content window (a common occurrence, e.g., when a user jumps straight to the article text) the video is not presented to the user. This can be a negative result for content publishers that wish to display the video to their viewers.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved method for presenting digital content to users, such that content publishers can ensure that viewers actually view the desired content.